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Betty's mammary lumps

Thanks!

My usual ones are closed so we’re dealing with their sister site which is out of area, but if needed I can get a taxi and bus and train up there so hopefully it will work out.

Just waiting to hear back now.

Meanwhile Betty decided today is the day to do her first popcorn in ages… which I’m sure is the last thing she needs 🙈
 
Good to know general vets can prescribe these things too. Thanks again for your support!
 
This is true - lucky really aren’t we. And it’s not like wound care is specific to piggies so I can be reassured they’ll know what to do.

I really thought she was doing well but it just shows anything can happen post op..
 
Sorry Betty's wound is giving g cause for concern. Hope you can get some more meds and it heals soon. If she's still perky and even popcorning, perhaps it isn't inflamed or tender which would be bad, maybe the stitches have just slackened a bit. Perhaps it might help to have her in a smaller space so she doesn't move around so much and risk pulling on the stitches ...

Sending lots of healing vibes xx
 
Thanks so much. I hope the wound looks worse than it is.

She’s resting in her hidey now after her little burst of energy, but I could make the space a bit smaller, that’s a good idea. We removed the ramp and made it all step free but she has started climbing up the bars again a bit which doesn’t help either!

At least we’re not syringe feeding so often now which helps minimise the handling..

Thanks again x
 
Quick update - one of the exotics who saw Betty last week has now seen the photos and the general vet called us back to update.

They feels the wound needs time to heal and may still be ok. They ask us to keep her house and bedding really clean and monitor the wound carefully. If it gets worse we’ll take her in to our usual vets on Saturday but if it improves we’ll go on Tuesday for the next post op appointment as planned.

I have loads of clean pee pads and we’re changing them frequently and we’re spot picking all the poos which Betty seems to be finding quite entertaining.

In the meantime I’m going to fetch 5 more days worth of Baytril and we will continue with the pain medication.

We have some saline and they said we can gently put some on there (we don’t have hibiscrub to hand). With the saline they said to do that very carefully and at an angle that doesn’t fill the gap up with liquid, she said it’s more a case of gently clearing any debris or muck away from the wound, not trying to get fluid inside it.

Really stressed still but at least we have a plan.

Betty in the meantime seems fine in herself which is great.

Thanks for all your good wishes and support.

Lucy
 
Sending healing vibes, hope Betty’s wound heals up very soon, sometimes the stitches start to look a bit gappy when the stitches dry up and become brittle x
 
Thanks so much, that’s helpful to know as we’ve never dealt with animal operations before!

The vet is hoping this is not needing any further intervention just yet so fingers crossed that’s the case. X
 
Thanks! It does seem less bad today the wound. Fingers crossed it keeps improving.

Her appetite seems to come in fits and spurts and it is strange to see her not beg for food. Also we find that the veg she fancies changes day to day, but she’ll eat hay on and off throughout the day and occasional nuggets and a bit of veg if we keep encouraging her, hand feeding, fluffing up the hay and refreshing it etc. she’ll sometimes go for small amounts of dried forage and she stole a leaf off Winnie the other day which I told as a positive sign. She was a VERY greedy girl before all this so it will be nice to see her get back to that at some point!
 
Also we really need to do her nails but don’t want to bother her until the wound is more healed so will have to wait a bit longer I think!
 
Her wound looks a bit dodgy again tonight and I’m not sure if the brown/yellow bit is just a scab or some infection. Any thoughts? It doesn’t seem to smell of anytning, if that’s a clue?!

I tried wiping it very gently with some saline solution on a cotton bud but I’m really not sure what I’m doing and don’t want to make it worse.. so I’ll send photos to the vets when they open first thing and see if they want us to bring her in.

She’s been nibbling and scratching a bit at herself every now and then (not loads) and it’s hard to tell if she’s just on her leg and body/fur (which is something they both do sometimes) or if she’s having a go at her stitches/wound. She otherwise doesn’t seem bothered by it.

She’s still on the baytril.

Very stressful this post op bit!

Thanks

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Does the wound feel hot when you touch it? If so, that's an indicator for infection. When my Eliza's eye socket became infected after an eye removal, the wound felt warm, the skin felt hard and there is no mistaking the awful smell
 
Thanks Claire- it didn’t feel especially hot no, but when I pick her up for meds this morning (she’s due shortly) I’ll check that aspect carefully. And give it another sniff! Thanks.

She’s been on baytril since the op, to help prevent infection but I gather from this forum that baytril isn’t always quite enough for preventing skin infections.

I’m going to try and get a good photo of it for the vet shortly and then see what they say.

Currently hand feeding her the fluffy ends of hay and fluffing up her pile to keep her munching!

Thanks again
Lucy
 
Thanks! I’ve just sent her some photos. I think it’s a bit gaping still but definitely not hot, swollen or hard and so bad smells). I’ve asked the vet for advice. We’re also running out of metacam so will probably need to go and fetch more of that today or tomorrow too!

Here’s today’s photo:
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Thanks- very much hope to keep infection at bay, I think she’s quite a vulnerable pig and this has really knocked her for six. I’d really worry about her recovery if it got infected.

Given how long the incision was- right across her body and all the way over the top of her thigh, maybe it’s not a surprise that some bits are taking longer to heal than others. I’m wondering if her walking is pulling on that bit to make it gape. Maybe we just have to keep calm and carry on monitoring her while it heals. Will see what the vet thinks anyway. Betty says Thanks for your support!
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Another day and a new problem with Betty’s wound!

A stitch is hanging down, don’t know whether to gently snip that off or leave it be?! I haven’t yet spotted her fiddling with it recently but she may be, or maybe it just got caught in something. She does keep trying to ease through hay piles.

In herself she seems brighter every day and her weight continues to increase. We’re due back on Tuesday (which will be two weeks since her op). I have sent today’s photos to the vets for advice in the meantime. They didn’t get to see her photos yesterday as they were dealing with emergencies.

I’m really hope this wound starts to heal soon. We have hibiscrub coming today but don’t know if it’s best to leave it to heal on its own. Any thoughts?

Thanks for your help.

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Another update- the vet receptionist called back and we have an appointment today to see the nurse who will have a look, clean up if needed and potentially look at maybe using some glue, depending on what they think. Does anyone have any experience of wounds being glued again after opening?

Many thanks
 
I am spamming my own messages here! .. ..but they’ve given her wound a good clean and applied a small amount of glue to the bit that was gaping to see if it helps. She’ll stay on the same medication plan and then she’ll have a follow up on Friday, or earlier if there’s any more issues. I’m sure she didn’t enjoy the wound cleaning experience (I didn’t witness that as it was fine elsewhere) but hopefully it’s helping keep infection at bay. They don’t recommend I do anything else at this stage other than keep it clean and dry and try to make sure she doesn’t mess with it or become too hyper active.
 
Glad it’s not infected, keep up the good work its just a matter of time for it to knit up
 
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